Guard for stove



May 26, 1970 c. F. HELLM UTH GUARD FOR STOVE Filed Aug. 21, 1968 United States Patent 01 fice 3,513,826 Patented May 26, 1970 3,513,826 GUARD FOR STOVE Charles F. Hellmuth, P.O. Box 213, West Bridgewater, Mass. 02379 Filed Aug. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 754,364 Int. Cl. F24c 15/36 US. Cl. 126-211 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A guard rail for a stove comprising telescoping front and side rails arranged rectangularly to rest on the top of a stove across the front and along the sides, and magnets attached to the rails for holding the guard rail on the stove.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Small children when left alone or unwatched out of curiosity may reach up to the top of a stove and touch the naked flame or red hot coil of the burners adjacent the front or sides of the stove and/or tip cooking utensils containing boiling liquid upon themselves and except for the safety guard shown in US. Pat. No. 2,699,162 designed for a different purpose, to wit, to prevent cooking utensils from sliding off galley stoves and which is much too low to be effective for the instant purpose, there is no known device available to prevent children from accidentally injuring themselves in this manner.

SUMMARY As herein illustrated, the guard rail of this invention comprises telescoping front and side rails designed to rest on the top of the stove and to extend across the entire front and along the sides, the telescoping rails being as to be extendable and contractable. The forward ends of the side rails may be integral with the opposite ends. of the front rail or optionally may be detachably connected thereto. To afford maximum protection the rails should be at least approximately four inches high.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the top' portion of a stove showing the guard rail positioned thereon;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective of the guard rail to larger scale showing a portion of the front rail and a portion of one of the side rails; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view showing an alternative form wherein the forward end of the side rail is detachably connected to an end of the front rail.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown a typical kitchen range which may be gas or electric having a horizontal top 12 on which are mounted the burners and a back 14 rising from the rear side of the stove.

The burners are comparatively close to the front and ends of the stove and hence it is easy for a small child to reach up and touch one of these "burners and if it is in operation receive a serious burn. Danger also resides in the fact that if there is a cooking vessel on the stove which has a handle within reach, the child may pull the vessel over onto himself with disastrous results.

The guard rail shown herein and indicated at 16 is designed to be placed upon the top of the stove across the front and along the sides and to be of sufficient height so that it would be difficult for a child to reach up over it and down to touch a burner in operation or if the handle of a vessel on the stove were within reach to pull it down sufficiently to tip the vessel over. The guard rail comprises as illustrated a front rail 18 and side rails 20, the front rail comprising a center section 22 and end sections 24, and the side rails comprising. forward sections 26 and rear sections 28. The rail sections 24 and 26 as shown in FIG. 2 are channel-shaped, comprising a front wall 30, rearwardly extending upper and lower walls 32 and 34 and downwardly and upwardly extending flanges 36 and 38. The rail sections 22 and 28 differ from the sections 24 and 26 in that they do not have upwardly and downwardly extending flanges at the inner ends of the top and bottom walls 32 and 34. The opposite ends of the center section 22 are adapted to be slidably interfitted with the end sections 24 and the forward ends of the rear sections 28 are adapted to be slidably interfitted with the forward sections 26. As shown in FIG. 2, the ends of the rail sections 24 are integral with the forward ends of the rail sections 26. Optionally as shown in FIG. 3 the ends of the rail sections 24 may be detachably connected to the forward ends of the rail sections 26. As thus constructed, the rail sections may be disassembled so as to be easy to package for sale.

The guard rail is secured to the topof the stove by a plurality of block magnets 40, one of which is shown at the rear end of the guard rail 20 in FIG. 2. At least four such magnets should be employed, one adjacent the rear end of each of the side rails and one adjacent each end of the front rail, either on the front rail itself or at the forward end of the side rails close to the ends of the front rail. There, of course, may be more of these magnets and they are of the kind that retain their magnetism over prolonged periods and have an extremely high capacity, for example permanent magnets. The magnets 40 may be attached to the inner sides of the rails in any convenient fashion and as illustrated the lower wall 34 of the rail is cut away to expose the lower side of the magnet for direct contact with the top of the stove.

The rail is comprised of sheet metal and may, for example, be aluminum so as to be of light weight and easy to handle and preferably is at least four inches high so that the child must reach up four inches and down four inches, a total of eight inches before it is possible for him to touch the burner. This height also makes it relatively difficult to tip over a vessel resting on the stove since if the handle is pulled downwardly it will butt against the top of the rail so as to prevent further tipping. The rail has the distinct advantage that it may be easily attached to and removed from a stove without having to drill holes in the stove for receiving attaching bolts or of applying clamps to the splash guard at the rear of the stove and especially because it is applicable to stoves which are not provided with such splash guards and can be applied to the top of the stove even though the edge along the front and sides is raised by means of a bead, since it is possible because of the telescoping nature of the front and sides to shorten them sufficiently to set the rail inside of such a head on the flat surface. Thus the guard rail is universally applicable to the tops of stoves without modifying the stove and/or requiring the use of tools and fastening means which have to be manually secured.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents falling within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

-1. A guard for the top of a stove comprising telescoping front and side rails designed to rest on the top of the stove and to extend across the entire front and along the 3 sides of the top, said front rail comprising a center section and two end sections slidably interfitted whereby the front rail may be extended and contracted across the front of the stove, said side rails each comprising a forward section secured at its forward end to an end of one of the end sections of the front rail and a rear section interfitted with the rear end of the forward section Whereby the side rails may be extended and contracted along the sides of the stove, said telescoping rail being adapted to be extended or retracted to correspond in length to the front and sides of the stove, and means for attaching the rails to the top comprising magnets secured to the inner sides of the rails adjacent the lower edges, there 'being at least four such magnets, one adjacent each end' of the front rail and one adjacent the rear end of each 1 side rail.

2. A guard rail according to claim 1, wherein the forward ends of the side rails are integrally connected with the opposite ends of the front rail.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,699,162 1/1955 Nazzaro 126211 2,772,414 11/1956 Baker 12624 X 3,043,289 7/1962 FOX 126-42 FOREIGN PATENTS 942,382 11/ 1963 Great Britain.

CHARLES J. MYHRE, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 12642 

